


The Far Side of the Moon

by Pippitypopadoo



Category: CLAMP - Works, Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: (U can subscribe if u wish to get notfis if i update), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Federal Agents, Began as a coffeeshop AU, I know i had promised otherwise but im so sorry... things happened, Maybe one day i can come back and rework this, Multi, On Hiatus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Please expect much more than coffee in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-01
Packaged: 2018-03-10 00:45:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3270446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippitypopadoo/pseuds/Pippitypopadoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Touya held a good position in a respectable company that his father had set up and had an annoying brat of a sister and another surrogate sister he sentimentally wanted to  stay as children more than he would admit. Sakura called him a workaholic, but life was pretty satisfactory anyway.</p><p>And then his father mysteriously fell ill, just as quickly slipped into coma, and he was left to helm the company alone without his father's help and support, at a critical juncture when the business contract with an important partner was about to be signed. Inconsistencies appeared in the reports he received. He was beginning to think that the people at Sakura's new workplace were more than they seemed.</p><p>It's not always easy being the eldest in the family.</p><p>-----<br/>[ON HIATUS] Check notes for more details.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Far Side of the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, the gift fic for my dear Renly <3 Happy birthday sweetie! Sorry you have to deal with a WIP than the whole thing though, but if you had to wait again.... It's very long, is what I have to say in my defence!
> 
> It's an AU that has grown so much since I started on it! I'm really proud to see how far it has come tbh. I've carefully plotted out the major plot points and tried my hand at foreshadowing, so if you have any speculations, I'd love to hear them!
> 
> NOTE: ON HIATUS. Things... happen. Sorry :( Comsider this a preview, if you'd like. I hope to come back and work on this again. In the meantime, you are still welcome to message me on tumblr if you have questions about the plot or anything!

Touya wrinkled his nose as he took a good look at the too-cheerful board introducing the shop as “Cat’s Eye”. It was hung above the door, with blue words curled against a maroon background. The board was set inside a bright yellow frame, which had nearly made Touya do a double-take the first time he’d seen it. Below it, the splash of red potted flowers stood out against the powder blue of the walls, and while fresh, they looked aggressively vibrant. Could flowers even be so… angrily alive?

Despite the dubious décor, there were more customers than one would expect considering that it was past rush hour. The corner of his lips twitched up involuntary when he spotted Sakura bustling about inside, taking orders. Seeing her in her uniform – a smart set of white blouse, black vest and black trousers - and knowing she’d found the job herself and was actually _working_ … His sister was growing up way too fast. He could have sworn up and down that just yesterday she was still tumbling down the stairs in a hurry and chomping down her breakfast in five minutes because she was late for school. (Again.)

And now, that little girl was growing into a young woman and working her way into society. Not that he’d ever admit it out loud, but… the days when she had pestered him to bring her to school on his bicycle? For all that he had been annoyed and rolled his eyes, those times weren’t too bad.

While he was musing about times past (no, he’s _not old_ , _damn it Sakura, stop calling me an old man, I’m only 6 years older than you, you little monster!_ ), light laughter broke him out of his reverie.

A young woman was exiting the shop, absent-mindedly stroking the puppy in her handbag that, strangely enough, Touya could almost have sworn seemed blue. The woman was talking animatedly to the bespectacled man smiling gently at her. “... and then Sorata-kun hugged her while his hands were still covered in paint! Oh, you should have seen her face! And you know Chun-hyang, the new girl? She found a long stick during playtime and she did this-”  Touya winced with sympathy when the hand she was waving enthusiastically hit her partner’s chest.

“I _told_ you to cut back on the sugar in your tea, Kobato-chan- ow! Did you just hit me again?”

Touya stared after them bemusedly as they walked past, then glanced back at the door and shrugged. On one hand, he didn’t know how people who weren’t colour-blind would be daring enough to walk in, but on the other, damn did the coffee smell like heaven buttered on lightly-toasted bread.

Or possibly, he was rather hungry and should very much go in and have a look. Since he was here already, after all. Time, efficiency and all that.

(Not that he had already been planning to fully investigate the place Sakura was working at all along.)

He was _not_ overprotective.

///

The scent of ground coffee enveloped him as he stepped into the café, the light tinkling of chimes above his head announcing the arrival of a new customer.

"Welcome to- oh! Nii-san?" From the far wall where she had delivered a patron's order, Sakura widened her eyes in surprise. Just as she made towards him, a customer raised her hand for her attention and her happy expression became mild flustered panic. _At least some things won’t ever change,_ Touya thought as he huffed out a laugh.Sakura’s eyes darted between the two of them with furrowed eyebrows but Touya just smiled and waved her away. He was well aware that he was here too early to pick her up, and too early for his own work to have ended, but hey, brotherly duties were summons from high above.

Also, if he didn’t ever exercise the right to mildly misuse his power in the company once in a while, what’s the point of sitting in a comfy chair at the top?

Touya took a good look at the café. Tomoyo – he returned a smile of acknowledgement as she waved at him – was  in another corner taking orders, and the only other waiter around was a lean man who looked pleasant enough, smiling patiently down at a child who was waving her fork enthusiastically at him. Behind him, a tall cheerful blond ( _a foreigner?_ ) and two teenage kids handled the drinks.

Sakura’s co-workers seemed like a decent lot so far. Still, it was comforting for him to know that Tomoyo, practically his other little sister after all these years, had signed up for the job with her; no matter what, at least Sakura would have a friend she could count on.

Closing his eyes, he let the aroma of coffee and the low murmur of conversations wash over him. And, _nice_ , the scent of freshly baked bread. He breathed in deeply, exhaled quietly. Work today had been… pretty bad.

Nah, who was he kidding. ‘Shitty’ would be a better word. He hadn't so much left work earlier as escaped from it. With worrying about his father and the added weight of responsibilities, he was managing just barely. For now.

 _Might as well get some coffee while I'm here._ He sighed and rubbed his face.

"Would you like to have a seat, sir?" a voice from beside him remarked. Touya eyes shot open and as he turned around, in his haste, his foot knocked into a nearby table and he felt himself falling backwards. He struck out his hand, missed in his scramble for purchase, and ended up sitting heavily onto a nearby chair. As luck would have it, the impact sent a jolt up to his head that summoned back the migraine he had nearly succeeded in chasing away through sheer perseverance.

“The heck-” He clenched his teeth hard, raising his eyes heavenward- _oh god, that made it worse_ , he squeezed his eyes shut. Great, just great.

“Woah, lucky save there.” _Excuse me?_ He struggled to glare through his pain, but perhaps only managed a grimace. It was the male waiter who had interrupted him, the one he didn’t know, and said man was currently looking extremely amused. The corners of his lips slowly turned down at Touya’s attempt at a glare, and the waiter peered at him through his frameless spectacles.

“I- oh dear, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he was saying, looking more and more concerned. “Are, are you all right, sir?”

“S’fine,” Touya muttered, massaging the bridge of his nose and trying to blink away the tears of pain. He was as fine as the shitty day he had. Seeing Sakura was supposed to let him finally escape from the hell the day had been, but _no_ , he couldn’t even take a break for five minutes.

The waiter shifted his weight from foot to foot and… was he hovering? He eyed him from the corner of his eye and sighed. The man was looking contrite, and as much as he _was_ behind the return of the migraine... Touya took a deep breath. He might be a part-time asshole, but he wasn’t the kind of asshole who took his anger out at people who did not deserve them, not really. “I’m fine, really, it’s just a migraine. You should get back to work.”

The waiter dithered, before letting out a soft “I… Yeah… Um. Sorry...? Tell me if you need anything.” When footsteps receded, Touya picked up a napkin to dab at his eyes and then let his head fall onto his folded arms on the table. How many more aspirin tablet did he still have at home? He should probably swing by the pharmacy later just in case… And after that he’ll have to review the statistics from the last quarter, updates from R&D and Security’s proposals regarding improvements for upgrades because there was a meeting tomorrow with the Vice-President of Hong Kong’s _Ryuu Pharmaceuticals_  regarding their major joint research cum business venture… That had made R&D rub their hands in nervous excitement like children whose birthday wishes came true. The President of the company was a truly admirable woman that Touya had the pleasure of meeting last year during his own visit to Hong Kong, a formidable leader who had good relations with many in this cutthroat business, but could easily turn ruthless to protect the interests of her company and employees if need be. Her son, the Vice-President, he did not interact with much, but from what he could see then, he was still naïve of how dangerous the business world is.

That was then though, and it would be interesting see how the younger Ryuu had changed since. As exciting and promising as the joint venture would be, that it would soon require all his attention to ensure that _KinoHealth_ ’s interests would be represented and fully protected was entirely undesirable right now. As was the work that he would have to do when he was home, and also the _so many things to do after that_.

Sakura kept telling him to do more delegation. Nice in theory, harder to execute when someone on the board – one of the people his dad had trusted as he was building up the company – had gone against his express wishes to keep his father's collapse under wraps and leaked it out. The press conference had been a pain that he could have done without. With it being just weeks before finalising the contract with the Ryuus, several companies had leapt at the chance to 'express their concerns' because they 'heard that Fujitaka-san had not been feeling particularly well of late, oh, do pass on our regards to that old chap, will you', and conveniently wondered about whether _KinoHealth_ would be able to deal with the contract at such a time.

_Fucking hawks._

That could have been that and he could have chalked it up to a slip of a tongue or, or _something_ , except that when he went over R&D’s development reports this morning, there were glaring that were not tallying up with what he had heard from Kamui and Subaru over lunch.

> **From** : “KTouya@kinohealth.net”
> 
> **To** : “SKamui@kinohealth.net”; “SSubaru@kinohealth.net”
> 
> **Subject** : (Blank)
> 
> _Message marked as: **Private** , **High Priority**_
> 
> Noticed some discrepancies between report from your Head (as attached) and our chat last week. Namely section 3.2 – 3.7 and 5.1, but will appreciate it if you check for more.
> 
> How concerned should I be?

A ‘ping’ from his phone alerted to a new message in his inbox. Sakura hated hearing it, always disgruntled by how both her brother and father brought work home but had complained less and less over time, becoming resigned to it. He’d ended up switching his phone to silent-vibrate mode whenever he was home; while there’s no rest for the weary, the least he could do was to lessen the frowns on his sister’s face.

As it was, Sakura had automatically shot him a look at the sound. Touya had no compunctions about sticking his tongue out at her and mouthing _[Do your own work!]_ in a public place. She widened her eyes and looked around frantically, flapping her hand at him before realising that it would attract more attention, and then simply blushed and turned away. Knowing that little monster, probably grumbling about brothers embarrassing her in public. He grinned at her back and looked back to his phone.

> **From** : “SSubaru@kinohealth.net”
> 
> **To** : “KTouya@kinohealth.net”; “SKamui@kinohealth.net”
> 
> **Subject** : RE: (Blank)
> 
> _Message marked as: **Private** , **High Priority**_
> 
> Kamui says hi and also: “What is this load of bullshit, what kind of stupid results are those and I did not hear anything about doing CK28, _what the fucking hell??_ ”
> 
> We’ll look into it for you. Please send over TSUBASA reports from June onwards?

Well then. Things are certainly not looking good.

“Hey, uhh… Is everything all right, sir?” A soft voice broke through the fog that was sitting heavily on his mind. The waiter from before was back, but without realising it, Touya’s attention was drawn to the mug of coffee in his hand instead. Maybe he should get one of those… “…  you sure?” the waiter was saying.

“W… what?” Touya blinked and glanced at him.

“I asked if you’re certain you want some coffee. You’re really out of it, sir, are you feeling all right?” The waiter – _Tsukishiro_ , his nametag read – was frowning at him, brows furrowed in concern.

“Just.” Touya waved a hand in the air, trying to get the words that were evading him. “Migraine. Work. You know, all that mess.” Tsukishiro looked at him sympathetically, and the man ought to stop looking like a puppy was kicked in front of him. Like _Touya_ was the puppy, Jesus Christ. Surely he didn’t look _that_ bad?

Tsukishiro sighed and placed the coffee in front of him. “It’s yours. On the house. I was going to give it to you anyway, because of the whole thing just now, but um, I guess you really need it huh?”

Touya raised his eyebrows but looked to the mug. It had a picture of a cat and dog sitting side by side, with their tails curled together to form a heart. Cute, something Sakura would definitely love. He fingered the handle of the mug, the waft of sweet blessed coffee scent enticing. At the waiter’s tentative smile, he took a sip of the coffee, not reluctantly.

It was a blend Touya had never tasted before, an underlying tone of spice threading through it but without the usual acidic and sour taste that he normally associated with coffee. There were hints of cinnamon and honey, accentuating the taste. It was smooth, soothing and it was _ambrosia_. Touya wasn’t really exactly a coffee lover. He could appreciate it, sure, but mostly he relied on it in the practical sense of keeping him awake whenever he had to run on fumes, but this, this could convert him. He would have been embarrassed by the incoherent noises he was making as he drank some more, but with coffee this good, it basically deserved weird throaty noises.

The hesitant smile on Tsukishiro’s face had transformed into a beam, and if he was looking smug, well, he was well within his rights to be.

And when Touya realised that the insistent pounding in his brain had faded to a more tolerable nudge, he couldn’t help but blurt out, “Damn, I feel better already, you’re an angel.”

That startled a laugh out of Tsukishiro, who waved the compliment aside and said, “A ‘thanks’ would have been more than enough, but you’re welcome. It’s good, isn’t it? A house specialty blend, though the cinnamon and honey is my own touch.  Coffee chased your migraine away, didn’t it? It’s strange, but caffeine can actually help the pain-” The guy was rambling on cheerfully and Touya nodded politely while cradling the coffee mug, wishing that there was actually more coffee than it looked. Coffee was meant to be drunk hot, but it would be perfect if he could make this cup last. He wouldn’t want to be tempted into buying another cup of it or Sakura would come hunting him down if she thought he was living on coffee again. Wouldn’t want to get this guy into trouble too for being the coffee-dealer.

Touya peered up at him. Tsukishiro was not what one might call eye-catching, but there was a certain delicacy to the way light washed his hair aglow into soft silver. With his soft smile and the blush on his face, which had bloomed on his cheeks after Touya called him an angel without thinking, Touya had not restrain himself from sighing because he had to remind himself that _now was not the time,_ not with everything in disarray right now _._

Even if the guy did look cute while he was smiling like that.

Well, even if he really didn’t have the time to be in relationships, nobody said he couldn’t look. Besides, after his father got better, maybe…

“Yuki-chan~ A hand in the back please!” The blond man was calling out from the counter, lilting voice carrying easily across the shop.

“Ah, yes, coming!” Tsukishiro called back, before turning back, looking embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I must have been talking your ears off.”

Touya hid a smirk behind the mug. “Oh, it’s no problem, Yuki-chan.”

“I, it’s not,” Tsukishiro stammered, the pink of his cheeks staining into a darker red. “It’s Yukito, actually, but the owner just likes to-“

Unable to hide back a chuckle, Touya put his mug back down. “I was just kidding. Your owner’s waiting, you should probably go. Thanks again for the coffee!” That brought another smile back, and as Tsukishiro Yukito hurried off to the kitchen, Touya mused about how easily he had managed to get a cute guy’s name. Things were looking up for today at least.

///

When Touya’s phone rang again, he set all notifications to silent. His assistant would call him if there was anything urgent, and he had already instructed her that ‘urgent’ meant ‘all our money suddenly disappeared or a crack in the ground swallowing our building’. Souma was a competent woman, and she’d know to turn to Daidouji if something happened, because he was very much Not To Be Disturbed. See, delegation was a thing he could do if he needed to. Speaking of which, maybe he could ask them about the leak about his father’s illness and the situation with R&D too…

But. For the next hour or so until the end of Sakura’s shift at least, he’s going to nurse the goddamned migraine and take a real break for once.

Sakura would be so proud of him.

///

 “Tomoyo-chan, why must I- Touya-niiiiiii,” Sakura said desperately.  Touya kept his hand raised in the air and Tomoyo, hiding a smile behind her hand and being as gracious as ever, had gently steered Sakura to his table.

“Sakuraaaaaaa,” Touya replied, elbows on the table and chin propped up on a hand. “Come, why don’t you take your brother order?”

“Are you doing your stupid surveillance thing again?” She asked as she drew out her notepad and tapped her pen against it, the way she was whenever she was irritated. “Is that why you’re here so early? Or are you just slacking and you troubling Souma-san?”

Touya wrinkled his nose. “No? What surveillance thing?” he asked, but Sakura snorted. “And Souma is my assistant, being troubled by me is in her job description.”

Sakura tapped her pen against his head. “Don’t be bothersome!”

“But,” Touya said, drawing out the word with relish, “I’m resting properly for once.” He saluted her with his now-empty mug and flashed a winning smile.

“During office hours?" She eyed him sternly, but he had known her for the nineteen years of her life and he could read the you-are-exasperating-but-you’re-my-brother look in her eyes. "Unlike you, _I_ am a professional," she said and put on what must be her 'customer service smile'. "May I have your order, sir?"

“A banana muffin please, Miss Waitress, the best banana muffin you have!" he declared solemnly, and Sakura grinned, pen flying over her notebook.

“And the finest muffin made with the freshest banana in this establishment you shall be served!" Touya watched her speed-walk away and allowed himself a smile and a sigh. _All grown up now. Kids grow up way too fast._

After that, Touya had gotten a hot piping banana muffin, together with a piece of napkin with the words scrawled on 'BEST MUFFIN EVER' slapped onto his table by a Sakura who was sticking her tongue out at him. He winked back at her, and she giggled.

Heh, no matter what, she'd still be his little sister.  


///

As the minute hand struck twelve on the top of the quaint clock-like contraption, a dog popped out of the window at the side and barked. Touya had long since finished his coffee, as well as the muffin he had ordered.

Now, Sakura would finally be done with her shift and both of them would be able to visit their father today. With a hurried "I'll be right out!", Sakura had gone to the staff room to change, and so Touya called for his bill.

"Going to see Kinomoto-san, Touya-san?" Tomoyo asked, smiling as she passed him the bill. "How is he?"

"Same as ever," Touya said, giving her a wry smile. "Thank you for asking after him."

"I'll be by tomorrow with Sakura after class, but please send him my best wishes for now." Sweet and thoughtful as ever, that girl.

"Of course," he promised. "If it’s no trouble at all, I’m sure he'll be glad to see you tomorrow."

“Oh, and…” Tomoyo darted a look at the door to the staff room, then leaned in and whispered, “I think I should warn you that Sakura’s been talking about cooking dinner today.”

Touya looked at her, all aghast. “ _No_.”

Tomoyo kept a solemn face and nodded slowly.

“Help me,” he beseeched, but Tomoyo simply raised her hands.

“You’re on your own, soldier, tonight’s not our dinner night together and I need to attend some function with Mum.”

Pulling a face, he slumped back. “She’s not gonna give in to me, it’s her we’re talking about! She looks so cute and all but she’s harder to budge than the spawn of T-Rex and Godzilla. Do you think that new violin piece I showed you the other day will make her go to sleep? Then she can fall into oblivion and I’ll just order takeout before it’s too late.”

Tomoyo laughed behind a hand. “It might not be that bad this time, you know,” she teased and Touya narrowed his eyes at her.

“You are extremely unhelpful, Sakura has been a bad influence on you. Just let me pay and go, you corrupted child.” Tomoyo smiled on undeterred, accepting exact change and then humming under her breath as she waved at him sweetly and left. Touya rolled his eyes. Those two, one day they’d use their powers for evil and rule the world. He was lucky to have met them when they were still in prune-y infant forms, and was therefore immune to their charms and wielded ‘big brother’ power (which never stopped them from being brats anyway) but the world, the world was not ready for a headstrong Sakura and angelic Tomoyo all grown up.

He sighed for the terror that would one day be unleashed into the universe and glanced at the clock. He’d wait outside, he decided, running a hand through his hair. And if the waiter just happened to be near the door as he left, it would simply be rude not to say goodbye on his way out.

Chair scraping against the floor, he stood up, ready to just casually stroll out the door, and then the world was tilting on its axis and his body was feeling light and the table was rushinguptomeethim-

“Woah there.” A firm hand gripped him arm and he was gently pushed back down onto the seat. “Are you okay?” Tsukishiro asked, “I know I asked it before but, you really don’t look well. Worse than before, even, you’re paler and clammy.”

Touya had not even felt him near him, that touch had nearly startled him. _Damn, I really am quite out of it._ “You really know how to sweet talk someone,” Touya said drily, but brought up a hand to his forehead anyway. He hadn’t really been paying attention (or purposely ignoring it, he couldn’t tell the difference between the two sometimes) but things were feeling a bit stuffier. “Nothing some sleep won’t solve, don’t worry about it.”

“That might be the case,” Sakura’s voice cut in, “if you actually _slept_.” She stormed down to him, a massive glare on her face. Once she reached him, a hand slapped onto his forehead. “You’re burning up! I should have _known_ something was up if your body can be dragged out of the company building during work hours.”

“I came to see you! It’s an important day, your first-” he tried, but Sakura was barrelling on.

“You nearly fell over! You were practically fainting! That’s a sign of sleep deprivation, so you’re not going to do any work today, you hear me, get some proper rest for goodness sake, you’ve racked up enough leave days to last you a whole year as it is-”

“Now you’re just exaggerating!”

Tsukishiro coughed. “I… see you’re in capable hands, so I’ll just…”

"Did you trouble someone again, Touya-ni-Yukito-senpai!" Sakura gasped and promptly fell silent. Her face was all red, and Touya looked between her red face and Yukito's confused but pleasant smile.

"Touyaniyukito is a very unusual name, Tsukishiro-san," he said, straight-faced. Sakura shook herself out of the stupor and gave him a glare to show how unappreciative she was of his input. He evaded the kick that was sure to come and sure enough, Sakura sucked in a breath when she’d hit the table leg instead. Thank goodness for table legs taking the beating for him, because Sakura had very good kicks, thanks to her self-defence lessons.

“Let’s go already,” she said instead, unsubtly darting glances at Tsukishiro.

Touya looked pointedly at her empty hands. "Did you remember to get for something Dad? You should buy him a pastry from the counter, so he knows where you worked for your first job today." Sakura fell silent at that.

“Oh. Right.” She bit her lips and glanced down, then nodded and left for the display case at a more sedate pace than she’d approached them.

“… Dad?” Tsukishiro asked hesitantly.

“Ah, well…” Touya scratched his cheek. “He couldn’t come see Sakura and Tomoyo today, so I’m here myself.”

“Wait, so you three…”

“Oh! Right, yeah, Sakura’s my little demon sister-”

“Don’t be rude,” Tomoyo called out as she passed by, slapping her pen on his head.

“-who is a terrible influence on her best friend and now Tomoyo is the angel fallen from heaven.” Tsukishiro rubbed his nose and cough, but Touya knew what’s up. He eyed him suspiciously. “Are you laughing at my plight?”

“No?” Tsukishiro answered, which was a question and not a statement so he _was_. But he was smiling so guilelessly that Touya had to cover up a grin. He was surrounded by people playing innocent, that was his life. “But, it must be nice to have two sisters.”

“The Daidoujis are a family friend actually, but I’ve watched the two of them grow up since they were born, so yeah, got myself an extra sister. It’s not too bad, really, even if they’re a handful sometimes. Tomoyo’s not too bad, she’s got a level head. Most of the time. Then Sakura gets involved and…” Touya made a face. “I’m always the one who has to cover their asses.”

“Sounds fun though,” Tsukishiro said with that soft smile of his, looking at him knowingly.

“Meh,” Touya replied flippantly, but couldn’t help smiling back. He watched the light trickle down the silver slide of his hair to dust against the side of his face where hair brushed against cheek. “You know, that’s a pretty cool hair colour you’ve got there,” he said absently.

“Oh, it’s um…” Tsukishiro’s hand flew up tuck his hair behind an ear, his eyes wide. “Thanks! I don’t hear that a lot.”

“Really? But, it’s…” Touya gestured a hand at him, then quickly withdrew it. “Nice.” _Nice._ Good going there. Not lame at all.

“Most people just ask if it’s my natural hair colour, or if my parents aren’t Japanese or something. My grandmother’s from Hong Kong but... My hair’s just like that.” He shrugged.

 “It could just be a mutation, or maybe some ancestor managed to pass it down to you somehow.”

Tsukishiro blinked. “Oh… maybe?”

It wasn’t exactly an important conversation, neither was it really going anyway, but Touya thought it was a pity that it came to an end anyway when Sakura came back. Sakura waved goodbye to her co-workers as she returned, paper bag in hand. Touya sneaked a peek at its contents and smiled when he saw that she'd bought a strawberry Danish. Their father's favourite.

He stood up. "All right, we better get going. It's been nice meeting you, Tsukishiro-san."

"Likewise, but please, call me Yukito." He smiled, and held out a hand.

"Touya, then," Touya said as they shook, Tsuki- Yukito’s hand smooth and cool in his.

Yukito, and that was a lovely name, turned and patted Sakura shoulder. "Good work today, Sakura-chan! See you tomorrow.” Touya would have used the way she suddenly become stock still as teasing fodder, except he wasn’t very sure about what to feel about it.

"... should look after your brother too," Yukito was saying, oblivious to any inner turmoils in his vicinity. "I think he's falling sick, he was complaining just now that-"

"Sakura," Touya said, quickly, "we gotta go see Dad already, let's go, goodbye Yukito-san." He pulled at her arm, shooting a glare at Yukito, who was looking unrepentant and mouthing _[Very sick]_ and pressing his hand to his forehead while Sakura looked between the two of them.

"Nii-san." Sakura pulled her arm away as they went out and angled to face him as they walked to the car. She brought up a hand to feel his forehead, avoiding his attempts to swat her away. "Honestly!"

"I'm not sick, I'll be fine after sleeping, knock it off."

"You’re burning up! Do you need sick leave? I _told_ you to take care of yourself more, really... Are you sure you can drive? You nearly fainted!” And off she went, fussing over him, and probably going to fuss for the whole day.

“Yeah, I’ve been doing this for _forever_ , it’s really not that bad, that was just vertigo.” And as Touya repeated 'No, I'm fine' exasperatedly, he thought back to the soft smiles and silver hair.

Damn him for tattling to Sakura though.

///

A few streets away from the hospital, Sakura asked, "So, what do you think about _Cat's Eye_?" She was looking out at the buildings rushing by, hand absently fiddling with her seatbelt.

"I haven't met everyone yet, only Yukito," Touya reminded her.

"But, _you know_ … You have your magical instincts, what do you think?" she pressed.

“You can’t just tell how someone is like without even interacting with them,” Touya said drily as he slowed down to a stop at the traffic light. “Life doesn’t really work like that.”

“But you also have some sort of brother siren that goes off whenever you think that something’s wrong, and they didn’t go off this time right? So you think it’s okay?” She turned around, practically hopping on the seat as she did. Hopeful green eyes met his and he punched her on the shoulder gently.

 “ _But_ , I also haven’t even seen your boss yet, or talked to the rest of your co-workers.”

“ _Cat’s Eye_ is Fai’s, he’s the blonde one. He’s treats us really well, he’s very nice to us and checks on us occasionally to make sure we’re settling in well! And he knows that Dad’s in the hospital, I told him during the interview, so just now he gave me the Danish for free when I said that it’s for Dad. And the other two doing the drinks and the cash register, they’re Syaoran and Watanuki, they’re cousins even though they look like twins! They’re all right too-”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down little monster.” He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, amused. “If you’ve already made up your mind about them, why ask me?”

Sakura did the face she always insisted that she wasn’t pouting, even though she totally was. “ _Because_ you’re my brother and I need to know what you think, stupid.”

Messing up her short strawberry blonde hair, and eliciting squawks of indignation, he laughed. “I guess they’re pretty all right. I’m sure you’ve got good instincts of your own too, you tend to surround yourself with good people, you know? Though, I don’t know what they all see in a monster like you… Oi, oi, you brat, I’m driving!”

///

Touya tightened the coat around his body and slinked to a side table where the seats were cushioned and comfortable. Tomoyo and Sakura were still in class and would only come by later, and Sakura had promised that certain wrath would be incurred if she found out that he had been working on the sly and not resting like he should. Of course, the solution to that problem was to set an alarm to the time her classes end and make sure to keep things away before she arrived.

Souma had been surprised when he had called in sick, though even if it was rare occurrence where Kinomoto Touya called in sick, it was a bit too much for her to confirm that it was indeed him who was calling. It was better than Sakura being the one calling though, because Souma loved Sakura (everyone adored Sakura) and would agree to what she asked, which could be anything from blocking his access to the company database to infecting his laptop with a temporary virus and stopping him from doing any work at all.

One shouldn’t ever underestimate how cunning and resourceful Kinomoto Sakura could be when she put her mind to it.

Pushing himself to appear healthy and fine, especially in front of Sakura, hadn’t worked this time though. While he wasn’t exactly in the peak of health recently, the stress of handling the company without his father starting to show their effects, the minute he reached home yesterday, he had felt a deep chill down to his bones and was immediately bundled into bed by his sister, who ended up doing her essays by his bed all night. She ordered takeout rather than cook though, which was the smallest of miracles, but at least dinner was tolerable in his sick state. Touya knew all too well that the only reason she did not scold him as she usually might when he fell ill was not because he was asleep most of the time, but more because she had been too worried. She probably didn’t really get much work done that day either, come to think of it.

He didn’t even have anyone to blame other than himself. If he had just been more careful, maybe eaten more vegetables or something, then he wouldn’t be looking this bad and Sakura wouldn’t be so troubled, hadn’t she just told him yesterday to not be so bothersome? Speaking of, he hadn’t told Souma to send a reminder for certain someones to _for fuck’s sake, send me the reports already_ and also _shit_ , the Tsubasa reports. Touya switched on his laptop and drummed his fingers on the table, waiting for it to start up. It wasn’t lunch break yet, but he could call Subaru later to talk about it. Or maybe they should set up a meeting instead of talking over the phone?

Then again, he needed to send them the reports first, which would be possible some time after the dinosaurs rise again _because somehow the screen is still stuck on the loading page._

Touya wrapped his coat tighter around his body and tried valiantly not to cough.

“If you look anymore pitiful, I think Sako-san is going to come and kidnap you until she can nurse you better,” someone said, and Touya lifted his head to see Yukito giving him the puppy-got-kicked-in-front-of-me look again.

“Who?” he tried to croak out.

“Damn, you sound horrible. Hang on.” Yukito disappeared just as he appeared and Touya was left to stare blearily at the table top. The cough hit him unawares like a train crashing into his back and he ended up bending over and slowly thumping his fist on the table. Yukito had rushed back with a glass of warm water and a jug as well, when he could finally stop the barrage of coughs and he finished the glass thankfully in large gulps. He slowly became aware of the hand rubbing up and down his back, and that Yukito had seated down next to him.

“Sako-san’s the grandmother drinking oolong tea over there, but don’t worry, it’s just that she’s helps out in the orphanage so she’s declared that she’d protect all children.”

“’m not a child,” Touya whispered indignantly. “26 is not a child’s age.”

Yukito laughed. Touya would like to hear it more. “Well, she’s nearly 85, so I don’t think she cares. Really though, shouldn’t you be at home resting? Are you actually trying to work here?”

“I’m an adult.”

“Mmhmm?” Yukito hummed indulgently.

“So I make adult decisions and that means I can work here if I want to.”

“You should be resting at home, Mr. Adult.” Yukito said, eyebrows drawn together in worry.

“You’re not the boss of me.” Touya rubbed his face. He was sick; he should get a free pass to act like a child. It wasn’t like Yukito would care either way. “I couldn’t stand how quiet the house was. It's okay when Sakura is there but when I'm sick and there's no one else around now, it's just, it feels oppressive and deafening…” he muttered. The hand on his back stilled, and he hurried on. “And really, I didn’t mean to be rude, it sounded funnier in my head and sometimes Sakura gets on my case, especially since…” He trailed off, not feeling like continuing that sentence. Getting bedridden was a sore point in the family, not just for Sakura.  


“Don’t worry about it.” Yukito patted him twice, and Touya was careful not to fidget. "You're welcome here anytime.  If there's no one to look after you, you should stay where there's company."

It wasn’t exactly that he didn’t have anyone to look after him, though now that he thought about it, it was usually his father or Sakura who took care of him whenever he was ill or having a bad day. Didn’t he have any friends to talk to? There’s Subaru and Kamui sure… who mostly talk about work whenever they had lunch together. But they had lunch together! And he had lunch with Sonomi the other day too. It wasn't as if he hadn't occasionally hung out with his university friends or colleagues as well... though those social activities did tend to be limited to bars and company parties, and come to think of it, he hadn't gone out at all ever since his father became bedridden. In fact, his life could be neatly sectioned into 'home' and office', with a few scattering blocks of 'lunch/dinner' here and there on the rare occasion that he didn’t order in.

Sakura would shake her head oh so sadly at his woe-begotten social life.

A nudge against his shoulder pushed him out of his melancholic musings. "What?" he asked, belatedly realising Yukito had been talking.

"Nevermind, just get some rest. Sakura's shift won't be till a while, but tell me if you need anything," Yukito said. Touya nodded, feeling a pang over how he'd probably get bored soon without company. "Be careful in your adult decisions then, wouldn't want you to ruin your reputation as an adult now." Yukito grinned, side-eyeing him with his head tilted to the side, and Touya couldn't help but let his eyes trail over to the expanse of pale skin of his neck.

 _It's the meds,_ he reminded himself, and rearranged his face into a scowl before Yukito could notice. "So rude…" he muttered. That drew out a laugh from Yukito, who was making no move to stand up. He just continued sitting there beside him, and even though Touya could feel the urge to say something... It was nice too, like this. He poured another cup of water to occupy his hands, carefully schooling his face. The medication he had early made his brain fuzzy a he wondered if it's normal to feel light-headed. _Probably_ , he thought as he watched Yukito people-watch.

The clock sounded, and Yukito stood up slowly. "I better get going," he said as he smoothed his apron down, and with a smile lingering on his lips, left for the counter. Touya watched him go, saw the way he greet a wizened lady sat in a corner, then stopped by the brown-haired kid (Syaoran? Watanuki?) who was manning the counter and ruffle his hair before heading to the back.

He looked back to the login screen on laptop waiting for him.

///

When he blearily blinked his eyes open, his laptop had been carefully stowed aside and the jug of water had been refilled. There was also a cup of hot spiced tea placed before him, beside a napkin with a doodle of a bunny sitting in the curve of the crescent moon. It was ginger tea this time.

Touya took a sip and blinked at the spicy burn down his throat. He could breathe better now, though, and he held the cup close to his face and inhaled slowly, enjoying how the scent ginger was clearing his mind. Nursing the drink, he folded the napkin and slipped it into his pocket, before switching on the laptop again. The concern was touching, and it'd be a lie if the treat hadn't made him motivated to complete more work.

"Really now!”His laptop was pulled away from him, twirled around and slamed shut. Wincing, Touya looked up to see Sakura with her hands propped on her hips, giving him her best stink-eye.

"Hey, that was unnecessarily harsh! Where'd you come from, don't you have class?"

"Ended ages ago! Why aren’t you resting like you should be?” she demanded.

“But I did, just now,” he said, feebly protesting and making hands for his laptop.

“No working until you’re down to 38°C,” Sakura ordered.

Touya sighed. “Fine, fine, but just let me send a quick email, it’s really important.”

“Yeah, right, you workaholic-”

“Sakura,” Touya said as sharply as he could with a throat that felt like it was filled with sawdust. “You know what kind of industry our family’s in.”

Pursing her lips, Sakura leaned down. “You can’t look after the whole world if you’re working yourself so hard you can’t even stand by yourself.” Her voice wavered at the end even though her glare was steady and her eyes were bright.

Right. Even when Touya was more perceptive to a person’s character and Sakura was the more gullible one, Sakura was also the more sensitive one who held people dearly to her heart. Touya sometimes forgot how strongly Sakura _felt_. And the poor girl was still very worried, even as she hid it underneath bluster and anger. What kind of brother was he to make her feel this way? “That’s why I have you here, right?” he said gently and pressed a hand to the back of head. “To look after me?”

“… You stupid, troublesome brother…” she muttered, looking away and Touya let her go, pretending not to notice her furtively wiping at the corner of her eyes. “5 minutes!” she called out as she walked away.

“Yes ma’am,” he drawled out, flipping his laptop open again. It was a simple email, just some attachments and then it’d be ready to go, but Touya hovered the mouse over the ‘send’ button and stared at the screen. He was pretty certain he could trust Kamui and Subaru, but other than digging around in their department and probably some other ones, it wasn’t likely that they could get very far, not when higher ups are involved. He didn’t want to get them into trouble either. While the whole thing with the TSUBASA reports might have nothing to do with his father’s condition being leaked, he had a feeling things weren’t quite so easy.

At times like this, it was wiser to err on the side of caution.

Having sent the email, Touya pulled out his phone. It was time to call an old acquaintance.  


///

With nothing to do, for once, Touya settled back with his ginger tea, still warm, and people-watched. He massaged the kink in right shoulder that he’d gotten from his nap, wincing as he dug his fingers into the muscle. Perhaps sleeping on the table wasn’t the wisest choice after all, as he ought to have known well by now after those nights he’d spent in the office. At least that, Souma had not ratted out to Sakura.

He paused.

Could he really be sure of that?

Not yet, most likely. But Souma herself had been frowning more whenever he crashed, even willingly brought him coffee some nights even though she had made it very clear during their interview that she wasn’t going to do anything her qualifications weren’t required for. That was an interesting day. He’d gone to office with an empty secretarial desk and left it with a woman so competent at managing schedules and people he had to completely rewrite her job description. A position as a mere secretary wouldn’t do at all, not for someone as good as her.

They’d establish good rapport, and while he wouldn’t go so far as to say he was comfortable talking about anything under the sun with her, he still considered her a dependable friend he could rely on if things were tough.  Not to mention, her girlfriend in PR also made great videos for KinoHealth as well as excellent cocktails for their company parties.

Rotating his shoulder, Touya surveyed the café. He didn’t really feel like standing up, so that meant going to the counter and chatting with the owner would have to wait till later. The blond guy was cheerfully pulling out a plate of cheesecake from the display case. Was he trying to whistle?

The brown-haired kid beside him at the cashier was ringing up the money, chatting with Sakura who had brought the bill over. As he handed her the change, he looked flustered. Sakura said something and laughed, and he was left staring after her back as she walked off. The other kid, his cousin, slapped his back as he passed and the brunet hastily attended to the next customer.

Touya continued watching.

When there was a lull in the queue, Brown-Haired Kid began to wipe down the counter. He’d glanced back at Sakura several times, until the owner ruffled his hair and said something at him. The kid then flushed and didn’t look back at Sakura, instead talking to Tomoyo when she’d come to return cleared dishes. He was looking frustrated and Tomoyo patted him on his arm. But now, while the boy didn’t look at Sakura anymore, Tomoyo certainly did.

Well, that was of concern.

After Tomoyo left, Touya went back to sipping his tea. On one hand, there was Sakura who had seemed to grow a crush on Yukito, which Touya still wasn’t sure what to think about. On the other, here’s a boy nearer her age who was obviously interested in her. But Sakura had never dated after her last year in middle school (and the immature him had then had a lot of fun intimidating the boy then), and that was the only time she’d been in a relationship too, not counting playing house in elementary school. And yet, she was nearly an adult and would not accept his interference in her romantic life in any way now.

Touya sighed deeply and looked into his cup. Oh well, he’d just pretend that it’s alcohol and knock it back.

Just as he raised his cup, something caught his attention. Near other end of the row of tables he was in, Tomoyo had taken a step back, the smile on her face faltering. Touya wasn’t able to see or hear what exactly was happening, but he’d already put his cup down and was half out of his seat. The patrons near them were also looking concerned, some even looking infuriated. Before he could reach them, though, Yukito was already standing by her, a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t keep the customers waiting for the bill, Tomoyo-chan,” Touya heard him say as he neared them. Tsukishiro was smiling genially at her, while those men seated at the table glared at him.

“Ah, yes, sorry!” Tomoyo bowed her head and quickly moved away, relief evident on her face when she glanced at him as she hurried past. Touya nodded reassuringly at her but continued walking towards Yukito.

“That was rude of you,” one of the men was growling. “We were talking to the pretty girl over there, what’s the big idea?”

“Yeah, she’s a lovely girl,” Yukito said, turning his smile to him. It wasn’t like the smiles that Touya’d seen, not at all. Instead, it was sharp, like a knife’s edge, and Touya could almost feel an imperceptible chill brushing lightly against the back of his neck, stopping him in his tracks even though it wasn’t directed at him. “I find myself being fond of everyone that work here, and some of our regulars too,” Yukito continued like nothing was out of the ordinary, resting his elbow on the back of an empty chair, like no one was within a few tables’ radius was staring at the scene or how the large men at the table were looking annoyed. Touya would have been worried for Yukito, but he seemed to be holding well on his own. “It’s amazing how cheerful and earnest these kids are, because once you get to a certain age, you can’t help but become jaded, don’t you think? But they still manage to stay so kind, it’s quite amazing. You can’t help but feel protective of them, you know?”

“The hell are you on about, you skinny twerp,” another man said menacingly, leaning forward and folding his arms. And yet, Yukito was undeterred by the purposeful posturing of muscles.

 “And really, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with Tomoyo-chan just now.” Yukito continued, still smiling. Then he leaned down and pressed his hands on the table, smile fading as his eyes hardened. “I guess you’re new, but we have a No Employee Harassment around here. “We don’t tolerate entitled, bigoted and sexist people around here either.” Yukito’s voice was cold, voice kept low and all the more dangerous for it. The whole café was quiet by now. “Least of all scum like you who wish to take advantage of people. So once you’ve paid your bills, you leave and never come back.”

“How dare you-!” The first man stood up so fast his chair fell back against the floor, and he pulled back an arm. Before his fist even levelled with his face, though, something black shot out and hit him square in the back of his head. A cane clattered to the floor and the old lady a table away slowly rose and puttered over. The scowls on the faces of the other men melted into shock as she calmly picked up the cane.

“There’s a very nice young man across the street who teaches martial arts, isn’t there, Fai?” she asked as she dusted off her cane.

“That’s right, Sako-san, he teachers judo,” the owner replied cheerfully.

“I heard he’s very impressive?”

“Yeah, I know him, he’s a black belt! And he knows jujutsu too.”

Sako-san hummed as she returned to her seat. “Maybe I’ll let my grandson enrol in his class then. Do you think he’ll treat him well?”

“My cousin was in his class before,” a customer spoke up. “She says she’s learnt a lot from him. He’s pretty strict, but he treats all of them equally. No sexist bullshit at all. In fact, I heard he hates people who are superficial and judge others simply by their appearance, without respecting the person that they are.” At that, he shot a look at the men.

“I’m in his class.” Touya was surprised to see the Brown-Hair Kid speak up, eyes bright with anger. “And I guarantee you that Sensei would be disgusted by how they act.” By then, most patrons were giving the harassers pointed looks and murmuring to each other. The men looked around them, very quickly realising that they were being outnumbered. Not once had Yukito relented from staring them down either.

“That’s good to hear,” Sako-san said. “He’s very cute, you know. Fai, have I showed you his pictures yet?”

“Pictures? Yay~ Just let me take the trash out, all right? I’m coming right over!” The owner, Fai, walked over to stand next to Yukito and beamed at the men.

“Just take your orders as on the house, because I’d loathe having you in my café any longer. We don’t even want your money! Isn’t that great? Do yourselves a favour and leave, hmmm? Toodleloo~”

Yukito had straightened up as well, a smile on his face. “Don’t you let anyone here catch sight of you again. And if you dare hurt a hair of Tomoyo’s, or anyone else here, well, that would be a very, very bad idea.”

While those guys were smart enough to sense that they were outnumbered, apparently they were still rather torn about standing their grown to prove something or leaving with their tails between their legs. With people like these, sometimes the best solution was:

“Those people giving you any trouble, Mr Owner? Want me to call the cops?” Touya asked loudly, waving his phone in hand as he affected an air of concern.

“Hmm, maybe… Ah, well, there they go, I guess it’s not a problem now!” Fai dusted his hands off his pants and walked over to Sako-san. “Where’s the promised pictures? Oh, he’s adorable~ Just for that, you’ll get an extra fruit tart today, my treat!”

With that cue, the rest of the patrons returned to their own conversations and food, and the low buzz of normality returned. Touya strode over to Yukito and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Good job there, thanks for looking out for Tomoyo.” Near the counter, Sakura was talking to her in low tones, one arm around her back. He’d go over and check on her later.

“You think?” Yukito heaved a sigh and just like that, the previous, different, Yukito was gone, replaced by the one that Touya was more familiar with. “I was just so _angry_ , I didn’t think at all. It… It might have even been a mistake, if Sako-san and Fai weren’t here. And Syaoran too, of course.” So Syaoran was Brown-Hair Kid.

“Still, what you did was great. I’m sure Tomoyo appreciates it very much too.”

Yukito gave him a watery smile and a shaky laugh. “Yeah, well, I’m glad it turned out all right. Those guys were massive! Did you see how that man nearly punched me? That was… _terrifying_ , woah.”

Touya patted him on the back as Yukito blinked and shook his head. But in all honesty, he was still trying to process everything that had just happened. That personality had been way too different. He’d given off a sense of danger, the kind wielded by those who knew how to use it.  It had even stopped Touya with the it’s force, compounded by how unexpected it was.

And that… Yukito had evaded his instincts. That was impressive by itself, because ever since he was a kid, his instincts about people tended to be spot on. Some people were intensely private while others wore their hearts on their sleeves, but either way, he would have had a measure of what they were like, an inkling of it at the very least. Even if, sometimes, they were just a vague feeling of a semblance, the grasp that he’d gotten would be enough for him to have a sense of what people were feeling. Those that he could, for lack of a better term, ‘read’ better, he might even be able to predict how they might react, and at times it was even sufficient for him to guess what they were thinking.

So this encounter that had left him completely blind-sided, it was new. Not the first time it’d happened, certainly, but the occurrences were rare enough for him to leave him wondering. He was still slightly wary about the different Yukito that he’d witness, but, Touya was very much curious about his hidden depths too, now that he’d managed a glimpse of them. Besides, with that display just now, that pretty much confirmed that Yukito and Fai would look out for both Sakura and Tomoyo. That’s all that matters for now.

Touya returned to his seat, saw both Sakura and Tomoyo approach Yukito and then Fai and Sako. Tomoyo was looking better already, though both of them had always been strong at heart. “You okay? Were you hurt?” he asked gently when Sakura reliably pulled Tomoyo over to him.

“Yes, thank you, I’m fine.” Tomoyo smiled bravely at him. “They had only just begun to say… unkind things, but Yukito-senpai was very quick to help me.”

“That’s good. I’ll drive you both to the hospital later, and then drive you home, okay?”

“That would be nice- But.” Tomoyo looked at him uncertainly. “You drove here?”

Both strong as heart, both very concerned about him. It was sweet, really, until Sakura started shouting at him again. “ _Touya-nii,_ what are you doing driving around in that state, that’s it, I’m driving, and I’m making Dad ground you from driving until you’re no longer sick, I cannot _believe_ you!”

“I’m sick, not dizzy, not an invalid. I can drive, you only got your licence a few months ago and I don’t trust you during rush hour.” He made a face at Yukito, who had looked over during Sakura’s outburst, and Yukito laughed and shook his head.

 _[Sisters]_ , Yukito mouthed.

 _[I’ll give them to you]_ , Touya mouthed back.

Yukito pretended to consider it. _[I bet I’d be a better-behaving brother than you.]_ Yukito grinned and Touya stared at him with mock outrage.

“Touya-nii, are you…” Sakura turned her head around. “Are you talking to Yukito-senpai while I’m talking to you?”

“No,” he promptly replied, just as Yukito nodded. _[Traitor!]_ he mouthed, then quickly schooled his face when Sakura whipped her head back.

“You.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“What?” he said, matching expression face for face.

“You two act like it’s still ten years ago,” Tomoyo commented.

“Hah! She said you’re childish!”

“And _you_ are still in elementary school. I don’t think you’d even reached the height of the chair yet.”

“ _Children_ ,” Tomoyo tried, with an air of someone who had long suffered.

“Child!” Sakura stuck out her tongue, just as Yukito came to stand by her shoulder.

“Now now, as much as sibling fights are very entertaining, there is still a café to run and I can’t watch you two in amusement all day long.” Yukito laughed as Sakura and Tomoyo quickly made their apologies and hurried off. “You really drove here? I can’t believe I didn’t think to ask how you even dragged your lifeless body in here, but, well, it’s you I guess.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, no- What has Sakura said to you?” Touya looked at him suspiciously.

“Nothing?” Yukito shrugged, looking entirely not innocent. “But anyway, my shift ends earlier than theirs and I heard you’re going to the hospital? I have to go and get something for my friend. Mind giving me a lift?” He smiled at him hopefully.

Touya had no idea how he would possibly said no in the first place. “Yeah, sure, no problem at all. If you feel safe enough with my lifeless body driving it, that is.”

“Well, that’s certainly alarming.”

“Hey, at least it’s not Sakura!”

Yukito laughed. “That bad?”

“Not exactly, she’s got good psycho-motor skills, got it from Dad, but… not the guts to be assertive during rush hour, you know?”

“Mmm… Well, if you’re so sure, I guess I’ll have to take my chances with the lifeless body then.” Yukito waved a hand in farewell as he left for the counter.

“I’m the lifeless body with masterful driving skills, don’t you underestimate me!” Touya insisted, and Yukito shot him a smile over his shoulder. It was just for a second, just a momentary sideways view of it, but it still gave Touya pause.

He was pretty much doomed at this rate.

**Author's Note:**

> coughs im very proud of thinking up this title


End file.
